A gas turbine engine generally includes a fan and a core arranged in flow communication with one another. The core of the gas turbine engine generally includes, in serial flow order, a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. In operation, at least a portion of air over the fan is provided to an inlet of the core. Such portion of the air is progressively compressed by the compressor section until it reaches the combustion section. Fuel is mixed with the compressed air and burned within the combustion section to provide combustion gases. The combustion gases are routed from the combustion section through the turbine section to drive one or more turbines within the turbine section. The one or more turbines within the turbine section may be coupled to one or more compressors of the compressor section via respective shaft(s). The combustion gases are then routed through the exhaust section, e.g., to atmosphere.
Due to the relationship between pressure, temperature, and volume for a gas, as the air is compressed by the compressor section, the air progressively increases in temperature. If the temperature of the air reaches a certain threshold temperature during the compression process, the high temperature air may, e.g., interfere with reliable action of the compressor section and introduce lubrication difficulties, in addition to increasing a required amount of work to compress the air to a given pressure. Such may have a detrimental effect on an efficiency of the compressor section. As a consequence, the compressor section of certain gas turbine engines are not operated to their full potential.
Accordingly, a gas turbine engine capable of removing heat from the air being compressed by the compressor section during operation of the gas turbine engine would be useful. More specifically, a gas turbine engine capable of removing heat from the air being compressed by the compressor section during operation of the gas turbine engine without requiring the gas turbine engine to carry a dedicated water tank would be particularly beneficial.